Wednesday, November 26, 2008

HOLY TURKEY BATMAN!

We had ordered a few turkeys in the spring from the feedstore and I was a little upset that they didn't come in until the 1st week of June. My concern was that they wouldn't have time to get big enough before Thanksgiving. By August it was obvious they would be good sized by Thanksgiving and by October the concern became how we would fit them in the oven. My husband processed them last Saturday and the biggest one dressed out at a whopping 39 lbs, with the others being 35, 26 and 20 respectively. We're cooking up the 20 pounder tomorrow and the others are in the freezer. But when the time comes I'd like to know just how to wrangle a 39 lb turkey into the oven?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Passing of Our Grandson

Our oldest grandson passed away on November 11, 2008. He was 16 years old and had Cerebral Palsy. Of the many words I could say about him, and about the courage and faith of my son and daughter-in-law, these words quoted from her blog say it best:

"The wheelchair races have ceased at our home. Our oldest son has gone home to be with His Maker. Although we are sad and left to grieve, we recognize the blessing that he is no doubt happier to be released from a life of special needs, tubes, braces, his wheelchair, and the like. He has finished his race and gone on before us. He was one of those "special" spirits who didn't come to this Earth to learn, but to teach. Even though he never said a word he taught by his example of endurance, stamina, and dealing with adversity the way he did. Many lessons were learned along the way because we were blessed to care for him, such as those dealing with lessons of acceptance, gratitude, love, patience, strength, family, faith, and hope. Along the way we found that even though life can be hard at times, there is still plenty of Joy in the Journey and nothing matters more then Faith, Family & Love. He definitely was loved by those who were blessed to be in his presence and he could laugh with the best of them. His laughter and smiles will be greatly missed. We are better people because he shared our lives. Thank you for the lessons learned-farewell for now. God be with you till we meet again little buddy."

Good bye for now, Zach. We will miss you and look forward to being with you again when it is our time to go.

Love from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Jim

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

New Lamb


We had a Veteran's Day surprise. Well, OK, it wasn't really a surprise since we did know that Bruce, the ram, broke through the fence one night in mid-June. Knowing the nature of rams we figured he wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to break through a 4' livestock fence supported by metal posts if he didn't have an overwhelming need to be with a most desirable ewe. And the next morning we found him being VERY attentive to Sweetpea, a very attractive, dark gray Columbia/Rambouillet cross. We put him back in his own pasture that next day and re-inforced the fence with electric wire on his side which seemed to deter his Cassonova tendencies. But, as many a teenager will tell you, it only takes one night of passion to have an oops. So our little ewe was born in freezing temperatures and we quickly re-discovered our springtime sport - watching our electric meter spinning out of control to feed the 250 watt heat lamp.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

WANT REAL CHANGE?

Well, the elections are over and America has spoken. But don't leave it there. Our elected officials need to continually hear from the American people so they can represent us in congress as well as from the office of the President. Check out www.americansolutions.com to see how you can be a voice for REAL change in America. Find out what you can do to help develop real, significant solutions to the most important issues facing our country.